Zone Original- New England Patriots Post Draft Report

[Dozerdog]

The end of the draft signals an annual lull for the year-‘round NFL fan, as the pace of off-season activity slows to a crawl until training camp. There are still some post-June 1 signings that will shake up depth charts but, for the most part, teams’ rosters are set for training camp. This presents the opportunity to examine the changes that have occurred in the last few months, and review the outlook for camp. Though Bills fans may be aware of the changes on their own team, they may not know as much about what they are up against. Thus, without further delay, here is a comprehensive look at the World Champion New England Patriots....MORE... (http://www.billszone.com/YourSite/global/templates/view.php?action=YourSite_content&month=5&state=news&nid=9762)

[Tatonka]

i look at their roster.. and i swear they are NOT more talented that the bills.. it all comes down to great coaching and strong qb play.

something that we just dont have. at least not at this moment.. but hopefully that changes this year.

[mypoorfriendme]

Originally posted by Tatonka
i look at their roster.. and i swear they are NOT more talented that the bills.. it all comes down to great coaching and strong qb play.

something that we just dont have. at least not at this moment.. but hopefully that changes this year.

agreed. although i would take their overall depth over ours

[Jared]

You can't only count 22 positions to decide which of any two teams is more talented.

Just counting the people you can expect to see in a game on a regular basis...

QB

2 or 3 RB

5 OL

4-5 WR (depends on team)

2-3 TE/FB/H-Back


5+ DL*
5+ LB*

*yay for rotations!

7 DBs

[BillsRockSOMUCH]

We are just as talented... it's just that they have Belichek, Weiss, Cronell.

[Alluro]

They have brady... maybe the best clutch player in the nfl. that is a huge edge over us

[SABURZFAN]

new england had a helluva draft.that pk sam kid could give us fits for years.:(

[Ickybaluky]

What is interesting about the Patriots is, despite their recent success, they are a team in transition.

They have a core group of veteran players (Bruschi, Vrabel, McGinest, Andruzzi, Phifer, Harrison, Law, Poole, T. Johnson, T. Brown, Patten, O. Smith) who have been a big part of their recent streak of winning. However, very few of those players will be on the team in a few years.

However, the Pats also have a group of very young players they are building around. Brady, Light, Koppen, Hochstein, Ashworth, Wilson, Samuel, Seymour, Warren, Green, Hill, Wilfolk, Colvin, Graham, Watson, Givens, Branch and B. Johnson are all less than 27 years old. A lot of those player have already contributed to their recent sucess, and all have the promise to be part of the future.

The key to how the Pats will be in 2006 is how that 2nd group contributes.

There is little doubt the Pats are well-coached and well-run, but they have some talented players as well.

[mybills]

Looking at some of the guys on the <b>GONE</b>list...

Damon Huard
Antowain Smith
Larry Centers
Dedrick Ward
Damien Woody
Ken Walter

Smart!

[clumping platelets]

Solid write up :up:

[BillsRockSOMUCH]

Belichek is the best coach in the NFL period.

[Alluro]

Originally posted by BillsRockSOMUCH
Belichek is the best coach in the NFL period.

nah..without brady he would be the same sorry guy he was in cleveland, and in new england during the drew bledsoe era

[Tatonka]

Originally posted by SABURZFAN
new england had a helluva draft.that pk sam kid could give us fits for years.:(

he might not even make their roster.. they have alot of decent wrs.. but no great ones.. and sam has not impressed so far.

[finsrclowns]

Originally posted by Tatonka
i look at their roster.. and i swear they are NOT more talented that the bills.. it all comes down to great coaching and strong qb play.

something that we just dont have. at least not at this moment.. but hopefully that changes this year.

By that logic Bill Belichick & Brady could have won 15 in a row and a SB with last year's Bills roster? I’d like to think so but I don’t. Here’s how I see the personnel match up in a nutshell:

On defense, NE has 4 legitimate playmakers, Seymour, Bruschi, Law and Harrison, with honorable mention to Vrabel. The Bills counter with Spikes and Schobel, honorable mention to Fletcher. Advantage- NE.

On offense, their OL gave up zero sacks in 3 playoff games and gave Brady a consistently solid pocket and allowing Brady to survey the field. Has our OL had one sack free game in the past 2 years? Yes, Brady throws a lot more short passes but he also gets better protection. They’ve added Dillon and Watson to that team. We now can match up skill wise, except at TE where NE has a big edge, but until I see solid OL play I’d have to say advantage: NE.

[ScottLawrence]

Originally posted by Alluro


nah..without brady he would be the same sorry guy he was in cleveland, and in new england during the drew bledsoe era

I agree.

[Tatonka]

Originally posted by finsrclowns
By that logic Bill Belichick & Brady could have won 15 in a row and a SB with last year's Bills roster? I’d like to think so but I don’t. Here’s how I see the personnel match up in a nutshell:

On defense, NE has 4 legitimate playmakers, Seymour, Bruschi, Law and Harrison, with honorable mention to Vrabel. The Bills counter with Spikes and Schobel, honorable mention to Fletcher. Advantage- NE.

On offense, their OL gave up zero sacks in 3 playoff games and gave Brady a consistently solid pocket and allowing Brady to survey the field. Has our OL had one sack free game in the past 2 years? Yes, Brady throws a lot more short passes but he also gets better protection. They’ve added Dillon and Watson to that team. We now can match up skill wise, except at TE where NE has a big edge, but until I see solid OL play I’d have to say advantage: NE.

nate clements and milloy are not playmakers?

and why does NE have the edge at te? they obviously drafted watson because graham has not got the job done.. and fauria is nothing better than average..

and watson he worse stats that peters did last year..

i dont see them with an advantage there at all.

and if brady and the NE coaching staff were on this team.. your damn right we would have won the sb.

[HenryRules]

Originally posted by Tatonka


nate clements and milloy are not playmakers?

and why does NE have the edge at te? they obviously drafted watson because graham has not got the job done.. and fauria is nothing better than average..

and watson he worse stats that peters did last year..

i dont see them with an advantage there at all.

and if brady and the NE coaching staff were on this team.. your damn right we would have won the sb.

Here's my take on NE v. Buffalo (last year - all healthy)

QB - NE huge.
RB - Buff huge
WR - NE. Moulds is the best, but nowadays your top 3 - even 4 are what count and NE has much better depth than we do.
TE - even - both teams are below average
OL - NE huge. Hard to even compare.
D front seven - NE (can't compare DL with DL and LB with LB because both used different fronts. NE had no real weaknesses, playmakers and depth while we had a few playmakers but a glaring weakness at LE and little depth at DT).
DB - NE.
P - Buff big
K - NE. Vinateiri had a horrible year last year and it was still better than Lindell's. I think Vinateiri's average year is probably better than Lindell's best.
Return men - NE.

So, breakdown by the three main teams, I'd say:
ST - NE (we're more talented at punter, they're more talented at everything else. Yes, coaching plays a part in that, but Antonio Brown has never done anything in the NFL while guys like Troy Brown and Faulk have had a few years of success.
D - NE. Better and deeper at front 7 and DB. No glaring weaknesses while we had one at LDE and one at FS.
O - NE. NE was only weak at RB. We are average at best at QB and horrendous (talent-wise and coaching-wise) at OL.

It's a myth that NE significantly overachieves because of coaching. They're as talented as any team in the NFL.

[finsrclowns]

Originally posted by Tatonka


nate clements and milloy are not playmakers?

and why does NE have the edge at te? they obviously drafted watson because graham has not got the job done.. and fauria is nothing better than average..

and watson he worse stats that peters did last year..

i dont see them with an advantage there at all.

and if brady and the NE coaching staff were on this team.. your damn right we would have won the sb.

Look I don't want to sound like a NE shill, because I'm not. But Harrison had 2 FF and 3 int's himself, that's what Clements and Milloy had combined. He also had 20 more solo tackles than LM.
Graham/Fauria had 6 TD's and 35 FD's vs 3 TD's and 15 FD's for Campbell/Moore (I realize that's partly Gilbride's offense but those are big differences). Graham is also an outstanding blocker. They took Watson because they thought he was a talent and Graham has dropped some balls. IMO there are reasons why Watson was a first round pick and Peters was undrafted. Even though Watson has not been real productive in college (his numbers were similar to Troupe's though) he runs a sub 4.5 40 and is a physical freak. Peters may surprise people, but you can't be saying you'd rather have Peters than Watson can you?

Brady is good, BB and staff are the best in the league right now, but IMO people underestimate the talent on NE, particularly their superior depth, which was tested to the extreme last year. But having said all that give Buffalo a sold LG and I think we can play with them.

[Ickybaluky]

You have to remember to take the scheme into account when evaluating players as well. For instance, Mike Vrabel may not be a great player in Buffalo's defense, but in NE's he makes big plays (9.5 sacks, 2 Int last year). Tedy Bruschi may not be the prototype MLB, but he makes big plays (131 tackles, 2 sacks, 3 Int, 11 PD, 2 TD).

The key to the Pats is they play multiple fronts and vary what they do a lot. They can do that because they have a deep roster of role players that perform well at what they are asked to do. So a guy may not be a great all-around player, but he plays the role he is asked to perform in. Some weeks that guy may play a bigger role than other weeks, depending on the team the Pats are playing against and how much his skills are called upon to be used.

So the guy may be a role player, but he plays very well in that role when called upon. Since the team has a bunch of guys that can perform well in different roles, they can vary what they do (both offensively and defensively) to match up to the strengths and weaknesses of the opponent.

Is that coaching? Sure, but it also is having guys who play well in certain roles and accept that they will play when needed. The ability to sell the team concept is why it all works.

Granted, if the Pats coaching staff were in Buffalo last year they probably would have been better coached. However, it is doubtful the roster would have looked the same, especially on the back-end. They would be bringing in different types of players, and using more guys in different roles. They wouldn't just stick with 22 guys, they like being multiple too miuch.

[TigerJ]

It's interestingto see how much position switching Belichick does with the NE defence. His starting defensive ends were both DTs in college. If I read correctly more than one LB, including Dan Klecko, used to be linemen. The result is that NE has some big people, though not the fastest front seven in the league.

[Jared]

Originally posted by TigerJ
It's interestingto see how much position switching Belichick does with the NE defence. His starting defensive ends were both DTs in college. If I read correctly more than one LB, including Dan Klecko, used to be linemen. The result is that NE has some big people, though not the fastest front seven in the league.

Nearly all of our LBs are ex-DL.


Bruschi came into the league as a DE and career NCAA sack leader from the Arizona Desert Swarm defense. He was moved to OLB pass rush specialist, then finally to MLB only a couple seasons ago.

McGinest game into the league as a DE/Pass rusher, and was originally planned to be the next LT by Parcells when he was drafted. That didn't work out obviously, but he has been a very strong role player.

Vrabel came in as a DE and was transitioned to OLB in Pittsburghs 3-4, and is now a complete OLB after getting more play time in NE.

Banta-Cain is following the Bruschi/Vrabel mold. Came into the league as a passrushing DE/OLB tweener, and is projected to 3-4 OLB.

I BELIEVE Matt Chatham was an undersized DE at one point originally as well. Phifer and Ted Johnson are the only LBs on our roster who have been LBs their entire career (and Phifer started outside and moved inside when signing with NE when NE switched to heavy use of the 3-4)

[EDS]

The advantage the Pats have is having a good system with the right players for that system. If you look at the front 7 on the Pats defense, the only one who would definitely start on the Bills is Seymour. Otherwise, Ted Washington is no better or worse that PW or SA, Vrabel may or may not beat out Posey and Brushi probably does not beat out Fletcher (they are obviously very different players so it would depend on the system, but it seems the Bills need speed from their linebackers).

For wider receivers, if Evans is half as good as advertised then the Bills argueably are more talented and just as deep as the Pats.

Biggest differences are at QB and offensive line. But the thing is, when you look at the Pats o-lineman individually versus the Bills lineman, they are certaintly not more physically talented.

That leaves us with coaching, or more specifically the fit of the system employed by the coaching staff with the teams personnel. That is the big edge the Pats have on the Bills and the rest of the NFL right now.